In 1906, Bishop Émile Legal invited the Jesuits to establish
a college in Edmonton, and although they contemplated his offer
and visited the city soon after, it was 1913 when the college is
founded. The college provided a private education to boys,
mostly at the elementary level, and was affiliated with Laval
University. The Jesuits actively recruited boys from across the
Canadian West.
The college was built at what were the outskirts of the city,
between 114 and 115 streets, near St. Albert Trail. At its peak,
there were 221 students, of whom no more than 10 were
Anglophones.
The Great Depression put an end to the success of the school,
and the Jesuits were unable to pay back the $100,000 they have
incurred in debt. In 1942, the building is sold to Americans who
use it as a staging area during the construction of the Alaska
Highway. After the Second World War, it becomes the Charles
Camsell hospital and caters to Aboriginal peoples.
Source:
- Joseph Moreau, Le College des Jésuites (1913-1942),
Aspects du passé franco-albertain, Histoire
franco-albertaine, directeurs : A. Trottier, K.J. Munro, G.
Allaire, Le salon d’histoire de la francophonie albertaine,
Edmonton, 1980, 20-29 ; 25e anniversaire du collège
Saint-François-Xavier, sous la dir. des Pères de la
Compagnie de Jésus, 1939.
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